Attraction to Art

What attracts you to art?  Is it the colours, the subject, the medium, the style or something else?

Art, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. I’ve always believed that taste in art is a just a matter of personal preference.  Haven‘t we all seen art that we like or don’t like? If art is considered to be subjective in such a way, why is it that it is easy to find agreement within a group that a painting is good/bad?  So saying what is “beautiful” is in the eye of the beholder or “subjective” is based on the fact that we're all humans and we're supposed to be different. Still, if we were that different, none of us would like the same thing. And that’s not the reality.

So what do I like in paintings? I have a definite penchant for impressionist paintings. This style is designed to create movement on the visual plane by painting selected color patches next to each other to create a movement which closely approximated the natural fluidity of light. My favorite impressionists are Monet, Renoir and Pissaro.

Although painting in an impressionist style (also referred to as painting loosely by some) may appear easy, I can assure you that it is not.  Achieving this style requires lots of practice.

Since I still consider myself to be a newbie watercolourist, I want to start this new year experimenting with different styles by watching videos of artists that inspire me. Who knows where my watercolours will go this year, all I know is that it’s been a fun adventure so far and I plan on extending my adventure to new frontiers.

Being early winter in Ottawa, I’m more likely to paint winter scenes.  I finished this painting of a robin in a high bush cranberry tree a couple of days ago.  Who knows where the photographer who took this photo comes from as we rarely see red robins in the winter here.

By the way, happy new year and welcome to my new blog!

Danielle